Tipperary's Dovea Genetics plays its part in boosting Rwandan national herd

Dovea Genetics outside Thurles is playing its part in helping to boost the cattle herd of the African nation of Rwanda, which was devastated by civil war in 1994.

The government of a tiny African nation gripped by one of the world’s worst genocides almost a quarter of a century ago has enlisted the services of four Irish pedigree bulls to help break its rural poverty cycle.

The Irish dairy and beef herd in Rwanda, where up to one million people were killed in a 90-day killing spree in 1994, is set to grow again after the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources engaged Irish aid agency Bóthar to source bulls for its breeding programme.

The two Holstein-Friesian and two Jersey bulls – named Connacht, Laighean, Mumha and Uladh after the four Irish provinces – have been sourced at Dovea Genetics in Tipperary, leaders in bovine artificial insemination and suppliers of dairy and beef semen.

They were transported last Thursday all of 11,000km to Rwanda – a nation slightly larger than Munster but with a population of 12.2million people.

Ger Ryan, general manager of Dovea Genetics, said they were delighted to be part of the project.

“We have a wonderful relationship with Bóthar going back over 26 years. We've been a supplier to Bóthar, which has developed breeding programmes and genetics in a lot of countries,” he said.

“It's a tremendous endorsement of the work that Bóthar is doing and it is wonderful to see some of our top Jersey and Holstein Friesian bulls going abroad and hopefully making an impact like they have in Ireland. It will elevate the quality in Rwanda of the offspring, the daughters that those bulls will produce," said Mr Ryan.

Bóthar’s chief operating officer, Niamh Mulqueen said Dovea was a key part of the Bóthar story so when they were approached by Rwandan government to source four bulls they knew Dovea was the place to go.